The Number
by Rissohma
Summary: Edward remembers how each of the Cullens responded to his ability to read minds when Bella questions why he thinks her reaction would be predictable. One Shot. Humor.


**My wrist has finally healedddd! lol. Its been over a MONTH since Ive been able to type stuff, and Im so GLAD to be back! I need to go write the next chapter so the story that I was in the middle of, but since I lost the flow of the story, I wanted to write something else so that you could see that I'm not just laying around doing nothing. lol. **

**This didnt come out exactly as I wanted it to, but maybe someone will like it. No point in deleteing it and leaving it to waste if it'll make someone smile. )**

"But I still wish that I was capable of reading your mind." I insisted

"Nope. My mind is a deep chasm that you wouldn't even begin to be able to understand." She joked. "You wouldn't want to see it."

"Perhaps you're right." I admitted, burrowing my face in the hair behind her ear.

"What?" She questioned, astonishment in her voice. "Why?"

I wasn't really sure how to explain why I liked that she wasn't predictable without jumping into a long story about how each of my family had reacted to my gift.

XxX

"I have to admit, Edward, that you're restraint is greater than most." _Which is very good. I was worried that my companion wouldn't stick to the same diet as me._

"I'm glad you think so, but I don't think that I'll ever have the same restraint you have." I admitted, feeling the familiar itch in the back of my throat.

__

Only a month as a vampire and he's already able to go out and about in the woods.

"Only a month?" I questioned. It had felt like way more than that... at least two months.

"What was that?" he questioned.

"Only a month?" I repeated, unsure of why he was asking me to repeat what I had said. Didn't he have strong hearing as well?

__

Can you hear me?

I nodded my head, unsure of why this was so pressing.

"Edward, I think you can read my mind. What number am I thinking of?"

_Seven, seven, seven, seven._

"Seven." I answered.

"Astounding!"

XxX

"And now you're one of us." Carlisle finished. I kept myself distanced from the pair, preferring to sit on the steps on the opposite side of the room. No need to overstimulate the new female.

"And this is Edward." Carlisle stated, motioning towards me. So I guess there was need to overstimulate the new female.

I rose slowly, allowing Esme to look me over and realize that I wasn't an enemy. Having just hunted, she was much more capable of differentiating friend from foe, but there was no reason to test her restraint this early.

"Hello." I said politely. "I understand that you're under a lot of stress right now, but it'll get easier."

__

Such a beautiful young boy. He couldn't be any older than eight teen.

"Seventeen, actually." I corrected, mentally kicking myself for my habit of answering thoughts. Esme hadn't been warned about my gift yet.

Her brow crinkled in confusion.

"Some of us... vampires... have abilities that others don't have." Carlisle explained carefully. "Edward, for one, is extremely gifted. Edward is capable of reading the thoughts of those around him."

"Not read exactly." I corrected. "I really can't control what I hear. I can see pictures, though."

"Really?" Esme asked, her voice cracking slightly from miss use. "That is so... amazing. Can you hear me even now?"

I nodded, glad that she wasn't disturbed at the lack of privacy this meant.

"What number am I thinking of?"

"Three."

XxX

"You're kidding." I complained to a very ashamed Carlisle. "You actually intended for us to be together?"

Carlisle sighed in defeat. "I hadn't planned it, but I had hoped. Besides, you know Roaslie better than I do, what with you knowing her thoughts. Surely there must be something that you share in common."

"I don't feel right with her not knowing." I admitted. "I would like to know if my thoughts were public and I think that she would, too."

__

Do whatever you see fit, it's none of my business.

I walked down the stairs, ready to tell my secret to the last member of our rather large coven.

"Hey, Edward." she said in a breathy tone. _He so wants me._

"Hi, Rosalie. Look, I need to tell you something." I told her grudgingly. I still wasn't sure the best way to go about making this confession. Esme and Carlisle were both very accepting, nurturing souls. But Rosalie..._Already about to confess his love, I see._

"Go ahead." she said, arrogance clouding every feature. She brushed her blonde hair away from her face.

"We didn't want to throw this fact at you in the begining, but we.. or.. I feel that you deserve to know." I began. "You see, everyone has something in their former life that is brought over into this one. In--"

"Carlisle already told me this."_He's nervous. How cute._

"Yes. He has. But I don't think you understand what I brought over." I continued, rather pleased that I was easing her into this.

_An obsession with music? Eternally messy hair?_

My hand involuntarily reached towards the top of my head. Although my appearance wasn't something that I put a lot of thought or effort into, I was somewhat happy with my hair. It was the same hair that I had had as a teenager and, as embarrassing as it was to admit, I felt somewhat insulted that she thought of it as messy.

_Messy._

"I can hear everything that you think." I said, feeling a somewhat immature sense of satisfaction at the idea of her feeling exposed.

To my amazement, she didn't falter her gaze or even blink.

"I don't believe you." she stated. "So you know everything that I'm thinking?"

I nodded my head, anxious for the turmoiled thoughts that were sure to come.

"Then what number am I thinking of?"

XxX

"Dude, it's like you can read my mind!" Emmett stated after I sunk another one of his battleships. He typed in the buttons on his side of the game and missed my piece completely.

"Well... Emmett... I have something that I think you should know." I admitted, typing in the code that I was going to attack. A loud screech came, followed by an explosion.

"Battleship Sunk!" The game announced.

"Damn!" Emmett cursed. "What should I know?"

"I really can." I admitted. "I can read your thoughts."

A second went by as he typed in the code that he was going to attack me with. A loud screech came from the game, followed by silence. He hadn't hit any of my boats.

"Right. Me, too." he scoffed.

"I'm serious." I said, hitting another one of his pieces.

"Well then I have a question for you." he said,looking at me with serious eyes. "What does Rosalie think of me in bed?"

He kept the serious look on his face for a few more seconds before he burst into the laughter that he was slowly getting known for.

"Nah, I'm just joking." Emmett stated, looking back at his screen intently, as if there was a sophisticated strategy behind this game.

It was coming to my attention that perhaps it should be Carlisle that tells people this particular bit of news. The two people that I'd told personally hadn't reacted in the surprised, somewhat angry way that I'd expected. That I'd preferred. Why did their reactions always get on my nerves?

I wished that I could have one more chance to get the news out. But that was a ridiculous thought. A coven of five was outrageous. A coven of six would be suicide.

I sighed. "You were right with the first spot you picked to attack. The one that you are about to put in is just going to hit nothing."

He didn't even look up. "I'm not falling for your mind games. I am going to win this."

I rolled my eyes impatiently. "There is nothing on C6 and no, I'm not going to smash the game if I lose. Yes, I could catch you if you run away from the game without finishing. No, those weren't extremely lucky guesses, and six."

XxX

"And I know all about you." she chimed, literally jumping up and down in front of me. "Carlisle's first companion. His best friend. A mind reader."

I smiled politely but she lept straight at me, pulling me into a hug that barely passed my waist. I felt the need to push her away at first, but realized that this was just something that I was going to have to get used to.I am so happy we found you.

I stood motionless and waited for her to be done with her hug. When she was, she took a step back and smiled up at me.

"I apologize about taking your room." she said, though she didn't appear to be scornful. She seemed amused. "But you didn't have to go on such a rampage."

I'd have hardly called it a "rampage". I was alerted by the two extra voices in my head and immediately went into the house to see two vampires sitting casually with Carlisle on the couch. Not only had we suddenly grown to a coven of seven, but I had lost my room in a matter of about an hour. My reaction was justified.

"I know, I know." Alice corrected herself after seeing my reaction. "I could have bee more tactful. But you also should have been able to hear that we meant no harm."

"It's not as simple as that." I remarked.

"Perhaps, but from I've heard and seen you're capable of hearing thoughts, right?"

I nodded my head mutely as her eyes started to light up.

"We could have silent conversations!" she chimed as a million different scenarios ran through her head.

_Wait... say the number nine so that I know you can hear me._

I sighed. "Nine."

XxX

We had spent the last hour sitting on our couch, silently watching television. I was glad that we had finally found somebody that was calm and collected. It was a wonder how this man was able to deal with overly excited Alice.

There was just so much about them that was new to me. How they acted, his scars, the way that they just knew where to find us...

"Doubt?" Jasper asked, turning his lazily towards me.

"What?" I questioned, not accustomed to the lack of privacy that was usually other people's problems when around me.

"You'r feeling doubt. Are you doubting our intentions?" he questioned.

I had found it hard to understand how a quiet, gentle person such as Jasper was capable of fighting in not only the most violant war in American history, but in the most violant vampiric wars while he was in Mexico up until now. It didn't take a mind reader to understand that he was loyal to Alice unequivically, and that my feeling of doubt was raising a flag for him to get ready to protect her. I could see the horrific fighter appear once more, even though he was still seated comfortably on the couch. Was he really safe to keep in this house?

"No, that's not it." I backtracked, feeling rather vulnerable and not at all confident in my abilities to win a fight against him.

"Fear." Jasper sighed, not even phrasing it as a question.

His accuracy was unsettling.

"What you need to undestand is that Alice and I mean no harm. Alice has wanted to meet your co-- family for a very long time, and if it's something that makes her happy, then it's what makes me happy, too. We have no intentions of ignoring your vegetarian diet, or exposing your family. I'd think that having the ability to read our minds would confirm that."

I wasn't quite sure what to say in response to that, especially considering my emotions towards it were being sent directly to him.

"I believe you." I stated. "It's just new. We've never found fellow vampires that are like we are. It's hard."

He nodded his head and smirked.

"You're as new to confessing as I am." he admitted. "But while we're at it, can you humor me?"

"Of course."

_If you can read my mind... then what number am I thinking of?_

XxX

"What do you mean, acting predictable?" Bellas questioned. "I don't think that I'd act predictable at all."

"Really?" I mused, not believing it. "Then if I were to tell you that I can read your mind right now, what would you do?"

She considered this for a moment. "I probably wouldn't believe you." she admitted.

"So you'd ask for verification?" I asked. She nodded her head. "What kind of verification?"

"I don't know. I'd probably think of a number."

**If it was bad, then you don't have to review. lol. Even after rereading it sounds bad to me. lol**


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